UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGHGRADUATE SCHOOL OF PUBLIC AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

PIA 2528

GOVERNANCE, LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND CIVIL SOCIETY

Professor Louis A. PicardInstructor

Fall Semester, 2014Room: 3600 Wesley W. Posvar Hall

Time: Thursday, 3:00-6:00

Office Hours:

Wednesday, 2:00-4:00Thursday, 1:00-3:00

Office: 3937 Wesley W. Posvar Hall

Office Phone: 412-624-7918Cell Phone: 412-260-9709Pittsburgh Phone: 412-207-2939Champion Phone: 814-352-8008University Fax: 412-648-2605

E-Mail: picard@pitt.edu Web Site: http://drlouisapicard.wordpress.com/academics/

Graduate Teaching Assistant: Katherine Yoon

E-mail: Katherine Yoon (yoon.katherine@gmail.com)

(Please contact Katherine directly, copied to me with regard to reserve reading, scheduling or other problems)

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Background to the Course

Development theorists and human security practitioners need to be careful that their formulas for social and economic change do not do more harm than good. A balance exists between the extremes of the command economy and centralized planning on the one hand and the libertarian approach advocated by radical public choice theorists on the other.

In the twenty first century, it has become clear that it is not possible to divorce development and human security issues from issues of governance and civil society. Nor can the policy debates and selection of policy choices be detached from the capacity of institutions to implement policy. Without good governance, development and human security is not possible.

This course will attempt to define this balance by looking at issues of local government, governance and civil society in Latin America, the Caribbean, Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa. It focuses on the dynamics of governance with primary attention being the grass roots base of democracy and their relationship to institutionalized state structures. Focus is on the nexus between theories of governance and the practical implications of that theory on political behavior.

The institutional state can be defined as the set of structures and processes- including conflict mitigation, the nature of social relationships within government units, between public sector institutions and the private and non-profit sector and internal organizational dynamics within state organizations- that though it evolves over time. These relationships form a permanent if evolving part of the dynamics of government.

Formal institutions are defined as organizationally or socially based units that have effective authority over aspects of policy and implementation, are based on formal rules, common values, and standard modes of behavior as well as regulations that are widely accepted. Informal institutions though they can be embedded in socio-cultural institutions, norms and standards, and include 'Customary' or 'traditional' political institutions (e.g. chiefdoms, religious organizations and local village councils), are sometimes criticized for being undemocratic and non-participatory. That said informal, or as some label them, non-formal institutions are an important part of the governance

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process.

For the state to serve society, both politicians and the bureaucracy must see themselves as parts of the institutional system with concerns that are broader than group defined needs. Distorted institutional relationships occur when state affiliated groups and individuals identify only, or primarily with their own immediate interests or communities. This disjointed institutionalism, once installed, is difficult to change. A state, once institutionalized, has a formidable capacity for its own reproduction and strengthening across time. Often systematic efforts by new regimes, to uproot prior forms and build new blueprints over state and society, will fail.

The state, defined by the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, is identified by territorial integrity and authoritative control. As an analytical concept it refers to an idea or set of ideas as to how government relates to society. The state system, by the nineteenth century, had acquired its modern form as a steering mechanism over societal and economic forces and an institutional apparatus with human and structural characteristics. The contemporary capitalist state makes and influences social, legal and public investment decisions. It is often the mission of the state to sustain conditions in its economic management conducive to investment, while simultaneously pursuing revenue-consuming distribution policies indispensable to its legitimization.

Critics of state analysis complain of the "black box" problem. Rather than reifying the state as a single actor, the argument here is that the state is characterized by both a structural complexity and an institutional fragmentation of the government of the day based on the interaction of individuals, sometimes organized in groups. Institutional approaches have suggested that it is important to analyze issues of personal characteristics and the psychological influences that circulate within the state and its bureaucracy.

It is my position that the state is not a unitary actor but is made up of human and organizational components which cooperate and compete and which link up with and influence the private sector and civil society. To repeat: the state is no unitary instrument. Rather, it is a complex social system shaped by the integration of political officials, civil servants, external actors, and social, ethnic and racial divisions.

Stable democracies require social strength to maintain a civil society and a bureaucracy that sees itself as part of an institution, as having interests

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wider than its own organizational or class interests. It is important that "institution building" rather than "nation building" take precedence, particularly in an ideologically divided or a multi-ethnic country.

Democratic stability requires both a strong state and societal strength based upon the values of civil society and democratic institutions imbedded in a wider network of state and social organizations that are decentralized throughout the state system. The "local state" is not synonymous with local government. The former reflects the local control mechanisms of the central authority. The latter reflects a bottom up process of political influence and control based on principles of democratic government.

Expectations and Course Requirements

The basic source of our understanding about governance will be the reading list assigned below. It is lengthy and various. The categories under which it is assigned are somewhat arbitrary and as we go along the re-examination of earlier readings will be essential when we get further into the course. Because of the length of each week's reading assignment, it is essential that students keep up with the reading from week to week. Failure to do so will result in academic "overload" as the course draws to an end.

Participants are expected to do as much reading as they can each week. Clearly, a mastery of the literature, and ability to discuss it, will be a major measure of how I assess your class performance, particularly if you aspire to receive higher than a “B” in the course.

Though this is an ambitious course, there are no required readings as such. Each individual will have to decide how much and which readings are most important for him or her in any given week. The rule of thumb that the instructor works from is a minimum of two hours reading for each one hour in class. That suggests a minimum of six hours a week for a three-credit class. Keep in mind I grade up from a minimum performance (“B Grade”) and not down. Do the best you can and you will be able to “survive” the course.

The course will be a mixture of in-class discussions and lectures. The lectures, it should be noted, are not intended to summarize the reading but rather give the independent views of the instructor. A number of readings will be identified as “core” or “discussion.” All students in the class should read the core readings. Each student should also read at least two of the “Discussion” and the “In-depth” readings.

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There will be four assignments for the successful completion of the course.

1. The first assignment will consist of a bio statement and a “self-designed” plan of study plan. This assignment asks each student to submit a two to three page, third person biography including: 1) your background/bio, 2) a discussion of your interests in the course and what you hope to get out of it, 3) a picture of yourself; 4) a self-prepared study plan based on this syllabus that identifies key conceptual issues of interest and the research problem that you are interested in exploring (15% of the Grade). DUE: WEEK TWO.

2. Participation in discussion. Students should be prepared to discuss and critique the reading each week. In assessing your performance, great weight will be placed on the extent to which you are able to discuss the assigned reading in both your oral and written presentations. Please be sure that all readings have been read by the beginning of the date for which they are assigned (25%).

3. Final Exam Essay. This essay is due the last day of the semester. The question to be addressed is: Assess and critique the literature on governance, local government and civil society. Include in your discussion the utility of the governance concept and how it relates to human security, development theory, and public policy and conflict mitigation. Be sure to refer specifically to the readings in the course in your answer (35%).

4. Research proposal. The research product for the course will consist of a detailed research proposal (15-20 pages) that contains a research question, a literature review, a proposed methodology and a set of testable hypotheses. The proposal should be based on an in-depth reading of one weekly topic in the course and address a particular region of the world and may include one or more country case studies as part of the regional analysis. This proposal could be used for a Masters Thesis, a PhD dissertation, an independent study or a field based institutional analysis. These proposals will be presented to the class at the end of the semester. Please consult with the instructor on your proposed topic (30%).

All materials in all papers should be referenced and should be cited in either the correct APA or University of Chicago style. Incorrect citations will cause your submissions to be downgraded and impact on your final grade.

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Instructor’s Travel

Please note.  Because the Instructor is also Director of the Ford Institute for Human Security and the Coordinator for a USAID contract on Governance and Conflict Mitigation, he will be away from Pittsburgh (traveling to Chad, Niger and Ghana in West Africa) for short periods in September (September 9-September 20) and possibly in early November. During this period we will have guest lecturers and students will be expected to continue to do the readings assigned in the syllabus. 

Books

Several books have been ordered in the University Bookstore. They should also be available in the GSPIA library on reserve. Increasingly materials are also available on line. These plus other suggested readings are listed at the end of this syllabus. A number of other books we are using in the course are of recent publication (last four years) and can also be purchased by special order from the bookstore or through the Internet at amazon.com, half.com or other book ordering sites.

NOTE: IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT YOU NOT PURCHASE BOOKS BEFORE MEETING WITH THE INSTRUCTOR AT THE FIRST CLASS.

Books On Order - (The following books have been ordered and should be available at the bookstore. They may also be available more cheaply through amazon.com, half.com or other internet providers. You may also wish to share books with your colleagues).

Required

Robert H. Bates, Prosperity and Violence: The Political Economy of Development (New York: Norton, 2010).

Robert A. Dahl, A Preface to Democratic Theory (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006).

Merilee S. Grindle, Challenging the State: Crisis and Innovation in Latin America and Africa (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996).

Robert Pinkney, Democracy in the Third World (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 1994).

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Fareed Zakaria, The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad (New York: W.W. Norton, 2007).

Recommended

Lawrence E. Harrison and Samuel P. Huntington, eds., Culture Matters: How Values Shape Human Progress (New York: Basic Books, 2000).

Elinor Ostrom, Crafting Institutions for Self-Governing Irrigation Systems (San Francisco: Institute for Contemporary Studies, 1992 or latest edition).

Dina Rasor and Robert Bauman, Betraying Our Troops: The Destructive Results of Privatizing War (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007).

Mark Turner and David Hulme, Governance, Administration and Development: Making the State Work (Boulder, CO: Kumarian Press, 1997).

Course Schedule

Please be aware that the readings listed below are not “required” readings but are provided to allow each student to design their own study plan in consultation with the instructor.

August 28: INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW

September 4: BACKGROUND TO DEMOCRACY

Core Reading

Louis A. Picard, “Background to the Course, this syllabus, pp. 2-4

Bastian and Luckham, Introduction and Chapter 1Clark, Chapters 1-2Grindle, Chapter 1

Discussion

Dahl, Forward and Chapter 1Zakaria, IntroductionRudyard Kipling, “How Fear Came” in Green and

Walzer, pp. 21-32Nadine Gordimer, “Town and Country Lovers,” in

Gordimer, A Soldiers Embrace, pp. 74-93

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In Depth Sources

Turner and Hulme, Chapter 1Goodwin and Nacht, Introduction and Chapter 1Schattschneider, Chapters 1, 2 and 3Wunsch and Olowu, Chapter 10 Cheema and Rondinelli, Decentralizing Governance,

Chapter 1Truman, Chapters 1, 2 and 21Harrison and Huntington, Chapters 7-8

September 11: THE LOCAL STATE, LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND DEMOCRACY

ONE PAGE BIO AND STUDY PLAN TURNED IN

Core Reading

Harrison and Huntington, Chapter 3 and 10Pinkney, Introduction and Chapter 1Zakaria, Chapter 1

Discussion

Bates, Chapter 1Mamdani, Chapters 1 and 2Charles Dickens, “The Election for Beadle,” in

Archer and Bainbridge, pp. 64-71 (or 67-65)Wang Meng, “Kite Streamers,” in Solomon, pp. 156-

180

In-depth Sources

Turner and Hulme, Chapter 2Dawisha and Parrot, Chapter 1-2Emerson, Chapters 2-3 Esman and Uphoff, Preface and Chapter 1-2 Cheema and Rondinelli, Decentralizing Governance,

Chapter 1-3Wunsch and Olowu, Chapter 10

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September 18: HISTORICAL PATTERNS OF CONFLICT AND CONTROL

Core Reading

Bates, Chapter 2Dahl, Chapter 2Pinkney, Chapter 2-3Zakaria, Chapter 2

Discussion

Huntington, Chapters 1, 7 and 8Dixon, Chapter 3Cameron Diuodu, “The Tax Dodger,” in Larson, pp.

107-127

In-Depth

Turner and Hulme, Chapter 3Nickson, Chapter 1 Emerson, Chapters 5-6 Wunsch and Olowu, Chapters 2-3Coulson, Chapter 1 Harbeson, et. al., Chapters 1-2Holmes, Chapter 10 Emerson, Chapters 5-6

September 25: CIVIL SOCIETY: A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Core Readings

Bates, Chapter 3Clark, Chapter 3-5 Dahl Chapter 3 Esman and Uphoff, Chapter 3Zakaria, Chapter 3

Discussion

Gies, Ott and Shafritz, Chapter One, Introduction 9

and Articles 1 and 2 and 27 and 28Bergner, Chapters 8-10 Rudyard Kipling, “The Law of the Jungle: How Fear

Came,” in Green and Walzer, pp. 21-34.

In Depth

Turner and Hulme, Chapter 4Emerson, Chapter 5 Harrison and Huntington, Chapters 1, 9, 12 and 13 Cheema and Rondinelli, Decentralization and

Development Chapter 7

October 2: THE PROBLEMS WITH LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Core

Bates, Chapter 4Grindle, Chapter 2 Wunsch and Olowu, Chapters 1 and 4 Goodwin and Nacht, Chapters 10 and 11

Discussion

Lerner, Chapter 1-3 Mark Twain, “The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg,

in Archer and Bainbridge, pp. 9-63Robert Penn Warren, “Morality in Politics,” in Green

and Walzer, pp. 228-236

In-Depth

Turner and Hulme, Chapter 5Diamond, et al, chapter 1 Nickson, Chapter 2 and 9 Berger, Chapters 1, 2 and 3Holmes, Chapter 3

October 9: LAND, TRADITIONAL SOCIETY ANDECONOMIC CHANGE

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Core

Bates, Chapter 5Grindle, Chapter 3 and 4Pinkney, Chapters 4-5Zakaria, Chapter 4

Discussion

Ostrom, Crafting Institutions, Chapter 1-3 Bessie Head, “The Collector of Treasures,” in

Soloman, pp. 52-73Lu Wenfu, “The Man from a Peddler’s Family in

Soloman, pp. 195-213.

In Depth

Turner and Hulme, Chapter 6Nickson, Chapters 4 and 5 Montgomery, Chapters 1-2Clayton, Chapters, 2-4 Wunsch and Olowu, Chapter 5 and 12 Cheema and Rondinelli, Decentralizing Governance,

Chapter 5, 9 and 11 Goodwin and Nacht, Chapter 5 Harrison and Huntington, Chapter 5

October 16: Donors, Grants, and Contracts: The Privatization Debate

Core

Rasor and Bauman, Part One, Two and ThreeGrindle, Chapter 5Zakaria, Chapter 5De Soto, Chapters 5-6

Discussion

Blaine Harden, “Good Intentions,” in Africa, pp. 177-216Nick Kotz, Jamie Whitten, Permanent Secretary of

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Agriculture,” in Peters and Rothchild, pp. 84-98Jean Geono, “The Social Contract, in Green and

Walzer, pp. 48-56

In-depth

Turner and Hulme, Chapter 7Esman and Uphoff, Chapter 4 Cheema and Rondinelli, Decentralization and

Development Chapter 9 Bastian and Luckham, Chapter 11 Berger, Chapters 4-6 Clark, Chapter 6-7

October 23: INTERNATIONAL DONORS, GOVERNANCE AND CIVIL SOCIETY

Bates, Chapter 6Pinkney, Chapters 6 and 7Zakaria, Chapter 6

Discussion

Rasor and Bauman, Part Four and Five Berger, Chapters 7-8 Paul Theroux, “Scenes from a Curfew” and “Tarzan

Is an Expatriate , in Theroux, pp. 23-39.

In-Depth

Turner and Hulme, Chapter 8Esman and Uphoff, Chapter 5 Goodwin and Nacht, Chapter 20-22 Clark, Chapters 10-11

October 30: INSTITUTION BUILDING, CONFLICT AND GOVERNANCE

Core

Grindle, Chapters 7 and 812

Pinkney, Chapters 8-10Wunsch and Olowu, Chapters 11-12 Zakaria, Conclusion and Afterward

Discussion

Mahasweta Devi, “Dhowli” in Solomon, pp.230-257Picard and Moudoud, “The 2008 Guinea Conakry

coup: Neither inevitable nor inexorable”Nadine Gordimer, “Oral History, in Gordimer, A

Soldier’s Embrace”

In Depth

Turner and Hulme, Chapter 9-10Nickson, Chapter 6 Cheema and Rondinelli, Decentralizing Governance,

Chapter 4 Esman and Uphoff, Chapter 6 and 7Montgomery, Chapters 4-5 Goodwin and Nacht, Chapters 13 and 14

November 6: THE WEAKNESS OF GRASSROOTS ORGANIZATIONS

Core

Dahl, Chapter 4-5 and AfterwardBastian and Luckham, Chapters 5-6 Harrison and Huntington, Chapters 5-6Goodwin and Nacht, Chapter 21Cheema and Rondinelli, Decentralizing Governance,

Chapter 12 Discussion

Anderson, Chapter 4, pp. 37-54 James Joyce, ‘Ivy Day in the Committee Room,” in

Archer and Bainbridge, pp. 257-274.Peter Abrahams, “Racial Oppression,” in Green and Walzer, pp. 451-456

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In Depth

Turner and Hulme, Chapter 10-11Esman and Uphoff, Chapter 9 and Afterward Uphoff, Chapters 1 and 8 Montgomery, Chapter 6 Cheema and Rondinelli, Decentralizing Governance,

10, 14, 15 and 16 De Soto, Chapter 8, Preface and Introduction Harbeson, et. al. Chapters 4 Ostrom, Commons, Chapters 1-2

November 13: THE LOCAL STATE: THEORY AND PRACTICE REVISITED. COURSE READING MATERIALS TO BE DISCUSSED

November 20: RESEARCH DAY

November 27: THANKSGIVING BREAK – NO CLASSES

December 4: PROPOSAL PRESENTATIONS

December 11: FINAL EXAMS DUE

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Materials Available on Reserve

Mary B. Anderson, Do No Harm- How Aid Can Support Peace or War (Boulder,Co.: Lynn Rienner, 19990.

Jeffrey Archer and Simon Bainbridge, eds. Fools, Knaves and Heroes: Great Political Short Stories (New York : Norton, 1991).

Sunil Bastian and Robin Luckham, eds. Can Democracy Be Designed? The Politics of Institutional Choice in Conflict-torn Societies (London: Zed Books, 2003).

Robert H. Bates, Prosperity and Violence: The Political Economy of Development (New York: Norton, 2010).

Peter L. Berger, Pyramids of Sacrifice (New York: Anchor Books, 1976).

Daniel Bergner, In The Land of Magic Soldiers: A Story of White and Black in West Africa (New York: Picador, 2003).

G. Shabbir Cheema and Dennis A. Rondinelli, eds. Decentralizing Governance: Emerging Concepts and Practices (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 2007.

John Clark, Democratizing Development: The Role of Voluntary Organizations (Hartford: Kumarian Press, 1991).

Andrew Clayton, NGOs, Civil Society and the State: Building Democracy in Transitional Societies (London: INTRATEC, 1996).

Andrew Coulson, ed. Local Government in Eastern Europe (Aldershot, Brookfield: E. Elgan, 1995).

Robert A. Dahl, A Preface to Democratic Theory (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006).

Karen Dawisha and Bruce Parrott, The Consolidation of Democracy in East-Central Europe (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997).

Hernando De Soto, The Other Path: The Invisible Revolution in the Third World (New York: Harper and Row, 1989).

Larry Diamond, et al., Democracy in Developing Countries, vol. 2 Africa

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(Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 1988).

Bob Dixon, Catching them Young: Political Ideas in Children’s Fiction, (2) (London: Pluto Press, 1977).

Rupert Emerson, From Empire to Nation (Boston: Beacon Press, 1960).

Milton Esman and Norman T. Uphoff, Local Organizations: Intermediaries in Rural Development (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1984).

David Gies, J. Steven Ott and Jay M. Shafritz, eds. The Nonprofit Organization (Pacific Grove: Brooks/Cole, 1990).

Craufurd D. Goodwin and Michael Nacht, eds. Beyond Government: Extending the Public Policy Debate in Emerging Democracies (Boulder: Westview Press, 1995).

Nadine Gordimer, A Soldier’s Embrace: Stories (London: Penguin, 1980).

Philip Green and Michael Walzer, The Political Imagination in Literature (New York: The Free Press, 1969).

Merilee S. Grindle, Challenging the State: Crisis and Innovation in Latin America and Africa (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996).

John W. Harbeson, Donald Rothchild and Naomi Chazan, Civil Society and the State in Africa (Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 1994).

Blaine Harden, Africa: Dispatches from a Fragile Continent (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1990).

Lawrence E. Harrison and Samuel P. Huntington, eds. Culture Matters: How Values Shape Human Progress (New York: Basic Books, 2000).

Leslie Holmes, Post-Communism: An Introduction (Durhan: Duke University Press, 1997).

Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1996).

Daniel Lerner, The Passing of Traditional Society: Modernizing the Middle East (New York: The Free Press, 1958 or latest edition).

Larson, Charles R. (ed.), African Short Stories (New York: Collier Books, 1970).

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Mahmood Mamdani, Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of Late Colonialism (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996).

John D. Montgomery, Bureaucrats and People: Grassroots Participation in Third World Development (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1988).

Andrew R. Nickson, Local Government in Latin America (Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 1995).

Elinor Ostrom, Crafting Institutions for Self-Governing Irrigation Systems (San Francisco: Institute for Contemporary Studies, 1992).

Elinor Ostrom, Governing the Commons (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990).

Charles Peters and John Rothchild, eds. Inside the System: A Washington Monthly Book, 2nd Edition (New York: Praeger, 1973).

Louis A. Picard and Ezzeddine Moudoud, “The 2008 Guinea Conakry coup: Neither inevitable nor inexorable” Journal of Contemporary African Studies, vol. 28, n. 1 (2010) pp. 51-69.

Dina Rasor and Robert Bauman, Betraying Our Troops: The Destructive Results of Privatizing War (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007).

E.E. Schattschneider, Party Government (New York: Rinehart, 1942).

Barbara H. Solomon, ed. Other Voices, Other Vistas (New York: Mentor, 1992).

Paul Theroux, Sunrise With Seamonsters: A Reader (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1985).

David B. Truman, The Governmental Process (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1951).

Mark Turner and David Hulme, Governance, Administration and Development: Making the State Work (Boulder, CO: Kumarian Press, 1997).

James S. Wunsch and Dele Olowu, eds. The Failure of the Centralized State (Boulder: Westview Press, 1990).

Fareed Zakaria, The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad (New York: W.W. Norton, 2007).

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